Control switch for synchronizers and the like



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CONTROL SWITCH FOR SYNCHRONIZERS AND THE L'JIKE E Sheets-Sheet l Filed 0071;, 25, .1944

www i llllllll l LEY GNTROL SWITCH FOR SYNCHRONIZERS AND THE LiKE Q Shams-Shea?, 2

File l GcA 25, 1944 Patented Jan. 18, 1949 CONTROL SWITCH FOB SYNCHBONIZEBS i AND THE LIKE George Albert Ley, Chicago, lll. Application October 23, 1944, Serial No. 559,997

(Cl. o-153) 5Clniml.

My invention is directed to a novel device and combination of cooperating structural and mechanical parts which constitute a novel circuit control switch adapted to be used on synchronizers such as used-on flashlight-equipped cameras. The type of synchronizer devices herein referred to are partially illustrated by the forms of synchronizers illustrated in my former U. S. Patent No. 2,295,853. More specifically my invention is directed to novel electrical contact or control switches adapted for use in various commercial and industrial uses where intermittent closing of a circuit is desired, as well as in camera synchronizers.

I desire it to be understood that my novel manually resettable circuit closing switch herein described may be satisfactorily adapted for any one of numerous uses and applications in various arts and wherever an electrical circuit or circuits are desired to be intermittently closed either for very short periods of time or for relatively longer periods.

It is a further important object of my invention to provide a manually retractable circuitclosing switch which includes a moveable contact member so constructed and arranged that it will close the desired circuit during movement in one direction and which will not effect closing of the circuit when it is retracted or reset or returned to original position whether vby manual, mechanical or electrical power means.

Other important objects of my invention will be apparent from the following description and appended claims.

Onthe drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a typical camera and of my synchronizer and flashlight carrying device connected to the camera case and also showing the flexible cable for operating the camera shutter and the synchronizer.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the synchronizer, which is enlarged in relationship to Fig. 1, and with the cover plate removedand showing certain additional parts in cross section.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on a plane indicated by line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross section view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of the disk-like rotor with the outer metal circuit-closing strip or element thereon.

Fig. 6 is a view looking at the periphery of the rotor and with the parts normally mounted thereon exploded.

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the rotor and directly connected parts in normal position before release for circuit-closing movement, and showing the two spring-like terminal elements in normal position in relation thereto.

Fig. 8 is an elevation similar to Fig. 'I and showing the rotor in a position partially progressed through its path of forward circuit-clos ing travel, and wherein the two circuit terminal members are electrically connected by the outer metal strip or element on the said rotor.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged end view oi' the drum and contact.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged elevation of the drum with associated parts broken away and illustrating the normally lower contact member 68 outside or over the lever arm 46.

Fig. 1l is an end view of the drum showing the contact member 68 over the lever arm 48 and flexed away from switch plate 10.

Fig. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary cross section showing the end part of the contact member flexed away from switch plate 10, which occurs during re-cocking movement.

Referring to the drawings:

Numeral i0 designates the main box-like shell or casing of a conventional camera and which is merely typical or illustrative or numerous cameras, and which is shown in Fig. 1 to illustrate one position of the synchronizer and flashlight and the operative connection with the camera shutter.

Numeral il designates extensible bellows forming part of the camera which have connected to their forward portion the suitable frame i3 whose lower transverse base member is preferably slidably mounted on a pair of parallel spaced apart tracks or rails I'a, fragments of which are illustrated in Fig 1, and which are secured to the camera casing l0 in any suitable manner, (not shown). Numeral I6 designates the ring-like frame wherein the lens I1 are mounted in a conventional manner. The shutter gate, being conventional, is not shown, though in Fig. 1 I illustrate the upwardly extending vdepressible shutter trip lever I8.

As shown in Fig. l, an outwardly offset metal bracket plate I 9 has its opposite end portions apertured and secured by rivets, screws or the like to a side wall of the camera casing I 0. The metal bracket is preferably provided with an upper bayonet slot, (not shown), and a lower slot, (not shown) which slots are adapted to releasably retain the outer headed portions of mounting screws (not shown), said screws being mounted in the wall of battery casing 22. Securing clamps 20 are releasably secured about the cylindrical battery cell casing 22 and so as to removably mount the entire flashlight and synchronizer unit on the bracket I9.

Numeral .22 designates an elongated cylindrical shell or casing adapted to house a plurality of suitable dry cells which provide the power source for igniting the flashlight bulb. The lower end of the cell casing 22 is externally threaded (not shown) and has removably mounted thereon the correspondingly threaded metal cap 23 whose exterior surface is shown as knurled for convenient removal and remounting. Said end cap 23 carries a downwardly extending threaded stud 24 which has mounted -thereon the wing nut 24a and which provides means for quickly mounting the entire unit on different cameras which are provided with outwardly projecting and transversely extending apertured arms or brackets. (Not shownJ The upper end of the battery container or casing 22 is provided with the usual lamp-receiving socket (not shown) and into which a conventional flashlight bulb 26 is either screwed or pressed, depending upon the type of receiving socket used. Numeral 21 designates a concavoconvex parabolic reflector which may be mounted or connected to the cylindrical casing 22 in any suitable manner, and which in the illustration is shown as removably connected thereto by a metal strap-like bracket 26a Whose lower end is removably inserted beneath the central portion of U-shaped clamp 26h and releasably secured thereon by adjusting screw 26e.

The circuit connecting wires, which are preferably contained in a single cable, are designated by numeral 28, said cable passing through a suitable aperture in the upper portion of the shell casing 22, as shown in Fig. l, and the respective wires thereof are connected to the lamp socket in a conventional manner. The lower ends of said wires 28 are connected to the inner female terminals of an insulated push-on plug 33 which is of substantially conventional construction, and which permits quick detachment thereof from the terminals on the synchronizer as hereinafter described.

Describing generally the synchroniser unit Numeral 3|' designates a box-like housing or casing which is made with one side open and whose interior is partially dened by upper Wall Sla, lower wall 3|b and normally vertical end or front wall 3lc. As illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4, the end portion of lower wall 3|b preferably has an upwardly projecting integral portion and normally upper wall 3| a has integral outwardly projecting portion 3|d and integral inwardly extending portion 32e which is passaged longitudinally and is internally threaded to provide for convenient mounting of the inner threaded end of the cylindrical housing 48 hereinafter described.

The casing 3| is provided with the removable cover plate 32 which is apertured at its respective corner portions and through which suitable screws 33 threadingly engage the respective corner passages 34 in the synchronizer casing 3|. The cover plate 32 is provided with a passage through its central portion which receives and journals the outwardly projecting end portion of shaft ,31 hereinafter described. The lower wall 3Ib is provided with a suitable slot 35 through which the trigger or trip lever extends as illustrated in Fig. 4.

The side wall lik of casing 3| as shown in the right of Fig. 3 is provided with a relatively large opening in which a flanged centrally passaged disk 344s removably secured by a plurality of screws 34a which thread into suitable passages of said casing wall 3U.

A cap nut 36, as shown at the right of Fig. 3, is secured by welding or the like over the central part of disk 34 and when it is desired to tighten the spring 43, said cap nut is gripped and it and the disk are rotated to the desired extent. The spring 43 is coiled and at its inner end is fastened to the shaft 31 by a stop pin 4|.

Transverse shaft 31 which is rotatively mounted has one end portion journaled in the central aperture of disk 34 and its opposite outwardly projecting end portion is reduced and journaled in the central aperture of cover plate 32 as shown in Fig. 3. Said outwardly projecting threaded `end portion of shaft 31 carries thereon the manually grippable preferably knurled handle or thumb nut 31b which is preferably secured in position by cap nut 31o threaded on the outer end portion of said shaft. As shown in Fig. 3 the reduced end portion of shaft 31 and the portion within the cover plate merge to form an annular shoulder which engages the inner face of cover plate 32.

Securely mounted by means of a key (not shown) on shaft 31 is the rotor in the form of a disk-like drum 38 which has its periphery channeled or grooved to form the annular groove 39. The rotor 38 carries on one flat side surface an annular flange or spring retainer 40 which may be formed integrally or separately and suitably secured. Said drum 33 may be formed of metal, plastic or other suitable material, the particular illustration of the drawing illustrating the same as metal.

When said drum is made of metal, which I ilnd preferable, a relatively thin disk 42 of fiber or other non-conductive material is secured concentrically on its other fiat face witn the aid of suitable screws 43a. While I refer to the said partially rotatable member 38 as a drum in the following description, I desire it to be understood that the same may vary in shape in a wide range from that of the illustration. The screws 43a pass through suitably spaced holes in washers 44 and 45l which are spaced apart and mounted on opposite sides of the central passaged portion of a metal cam-like member, or lever arm 46, Vwhose outer portion is arcuate and has one of its ends bent outwardly and away from the drum 38 as shown at the right of Fig. '1 and the left of Fig. 8. The aforesaid helical spring 43 has it outer end connected to the disk 34 by suitable pin 1| as shown at the right of Fig. 3, and it has its innermost end portion connected to shaft 31 by pin 4|, `(Fig. 3).

The hole through the hub portion of cam 46 is relatively larger than the circumference of the shaft 31 on which it is mounted so that any conduction of electricity to said shaft is prevented.

The drum 38 has secured in its peripheral portion a transversely extending stop stud 41 which is shown particularly in Fig. 6 and a portion of which transverses the groove 39. Said stop stud 41 is engaged by the upper end of the trigger lever lgwhich is snapped under it by action of the spring 52 shown in Figs. 2 and 4, said spring being mounted with its central portion on the axis of said trigger lever. Said stop stud 41, upon release of the drum by pulling of the trigger, is adapted to strike the inwardly extending l projection or lug 48a which is preferably formed integral with the casing 8i at a substantial portion shown in the lower left hand portion of Figs. 2 and 4. It will be apparent that the path of travel of said drum is somewhat less than onehali' of a circle.

As illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4, the substantial cylindrical fitting 48 has its reduced internally threaded end threaded into a correspondingly threaded passage in the upper portion of casing 3|, and has its outer end portion internally threaded to receive a bushing or nut 49 which removably connects one end portion of a flexible cable 50 to said synchronizer. The exible cable 50 has its inner slidable wire 50a whose end extends through the nut 49 and is adapted to be moved to release and actuate the camera shutter upon contact of the plug 53 which is connected upon the outer end of the tightly wound springlike flexible cable 54. The other end of said cable 54 is secured to the periphery of drum 88 by a suitable pin 55 or equivalent fastening element.

Reference numerals 51 and 58 designate terminal contact post which are mounted in spaced apart relation in a non-conductive mounting plug member 59. One end of inwardly extending contact spring 61 is connected to the inner end of the upper terminal post 51, and its other end terminates a short distance beyond and inwardly of the periphery of drum 38, as shown in Figs. 2, 7 and 8. The inner end portion of said contact spring 61 is preferably formed with its opposite edge outwardly so that the intermediate curved surface therebetween will slidably and with the least possible friction contact the switch plate on the rotor and hereafter described.

Connected on the inner end portion of the lower post 58 is an inwardly extending springlike contact member'68 which is longer than con.. tact spring 51 and whose inner end extends to a point substantially midway between the periphery and the axis of the drum end which is positioned immediately adjacent to the face of the nbre disc 42. The lower edge 69 of the inner end of said contact member 68 is bent slightly outwardly as indicatedby shaded lines particularly in Figs. 7 and 8, the opposite or upper edge of said end portion being relatively at.

Reference numeral designates the metal arcuate switch plate which is mounted on the outer periphery of the drum as shown in Figs. 2, 5, 7, and 8 and which is secured to the peripheral area of the disk 42 which itself is secured to and rotates with the drum 38. When the drum is in cocked position as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 7, the position of the switch plate is in position therein shown, and upon release by pulling of the trigger 5I the drum and switch plate 10 rotates clock-wise, first reaching the position thereof as illustrated in Fig. 8, and continuing to the final released position of the drum illustrated in Fig. 2. When the switch plate is in upper position during said clock-wise movement, the arcuate switch plate 10 electrically connects the contact springs 61 and 68 (which position is illustrated in Fig. 8), and as the plate passes the upper contact member 61, the said electric contact is broken and the circuit opened. During such connection spring-impelled clockwise movement the circuit from the dry cell in the casing 22 to the flash bulb 26 has been closed to causethe flashing -of the flash bulb, and the wire-50a is movedto actuate the shutter.

Because many operators frequently immediately replace the burned out bulb with a fresh bulb before resetting or recocking the synchronizer, the resetting of said presently known synchronizer to starting position frequently results in the new and replaced fresh bulb being flashed and destroyed upon retracting or resetting of the synchronizer, this because the contact plate 1Q would except for` my device to prevent it, likewise shunt and electrically connect the contact members 81 and 68 during backward resetting movement. With my herein described construction and parts, this repeated destruction of flash bulbs is prevented, in that when the operator resets the synchronizer and rotates the rotor counter-clockwise the inwardly bent free end of the cam 48 which is at the right in Figs. 2 and 8, slips and rides under the longer extended end of the lower contact member 68 to flex said contact member 68 away from the drum and away from the switch closing plate 10 so that the said lower contact member does not slide on or contact the outer switch plate 10 Aduring the recocking or resetting movement. Accordingly the closing of the circuit during the resetting or recocking movement is completely avoided and the possibility of hashing fresh bulbs is completely avoided.

In Fig. 9, I have illustrated the position of the end portions of contact spring 61 and contact member 68 in contacting relation to the plate 10 when the clockwise circuit closing movement of the drum 42 takes place. It will be noted that in this movement the end portion of contact member 68 is underneath lever arm 46, as shown also in dotted lines in Fig. 8 and in end elevation. The end portion of arcuate lever arm 46 shown at the left of Fig. 8 is bent outwardly and away from the drum 42 as shown at left of Fig. 10, so that on clockwise movement looking at Figs. 7 and 8 the free end of contact member 88 is maintained in substantial alignment with contact spring 61 so the plate 10 will touch both 61 and 68 during such clockwise movement.

As shown in Figs.'11 and 12, the free end of the contact member 68 has been flexed outwardly and farther away from the drum 42 by the inwardly bent end of arcuate lever arm 46 shown on the upper end in Fig. 10 slidably engaging the under or inner surface of contact member 68. This occurs substantially at the beginning of the recocking counter-clockwise movement. As the re-cocking counter-clockwise movement is continued to its maximum .(as

shown in Fig. 7), the tendency of the free end portion of contact member 68 to straighten itself will return it to original position into substantial alignment with contact spring 61 wherein it will be contacted by the switch plate 18 on clockwise movement to close the circuit on release of the drum as before described.

Due to the fact that it is highly important in order to obtain photographs at the desired instant, for example, at public or similar functions where particular positions, movements, gestures, or the like are important to the obtainment of highly desirable photographs, the photographer or operator is assured that he may nash his flash bulb and simultaneously actuate and release the camera shutter at the desired instant.

It will be apparent that my synchronizer may be readily adapted and operatively connected to various cameras in substantially the manner illustrated and described and that the .aforedescribed construction may be economically manufactured, assembled and mounted.

It is to be understood that when the drum has been released by pulling of the trigger as aforesaid, and when the ilexible cable l and its connected plug 53 has pushed the ilexible cable 58 to a predetermined point that the camera shutter is released in the desired instant according to the selected adjustment of said ilexible cable and its connected parts. Also the speed with which the drum moves to close the circuit as aforesaid may be readily adjusted by either lessening or tightening the starting position of the helical spring 40 which can be readily done by releasing screws 34a, rotating the cap nut 36 and disk 3l, and then tightening said screws 34a.

I desire it to be understood that the herein described switch closing or circuit closing mechanism may be adapted to various uses other than to camera synchronizer and wherever an electric circuit is desired to be closed for very short intervals and wherein the control switch is adapted to be reset manually or by power means.

I am aware that many changes may be made and numerous details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention, and I therefore do not desire to limit the patent granted thereon otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claim:

1. In a manually actuable circuit control switch, a housing, a pair of terminal members mounted on said housing and having a pair of flexible contact elements extending into said housing, one of said contact elements being longer than the other; a non-conductive rotatable member jourf nailed in said housing; a spring connected to said rotatable member and adapted to impel the same into contacting position; a metal switch plate on the peripheral portion of said rotatable member, said plate being adapted to connect said contact elements when said rotatable member is released in one direction; an outwardly curved cam member on said rotatable member, said cam member, on retracting movement of said rotatable element, being adapted to engage and ex outwardly one of said contact elements and thereby prevent said switch plate from closing the circuit of said contact elements during such return movemen-t.

2. In a manually re-setting spring-impelled control switch, a receptacle, a pair of terminal studs mounted on said receptacle and insulated therefrom; flexible contact elements extending into said receptacle and connected to said terminal studs;v a drum journaled in said receptacle, a manually grippable handle connected to said drum; a spring connected to said drum and adapted to impel the same in contacting direction; a metal circuit closing plate on said drum and adapted to connect said contactelements on movement of said drum in one direction; an outwardly curved cam g member having one end mounted adjacent said drum; said cam member being adapted to move one of said contact elements outwardly, when said rotatable element is returned to starting position, to thereby prevent electrical connection between said contact elements.

3. In combination with a synchronizer for` ilashlight cameras including a housing; in a lmanually retractable spring impelled circuit cona pair of flexible spaced apart contact elements extending. into said housing; a rotatable member journalled in said housing and having stop lugs extending outwardly-therefrom; a trigger lever fulcrummed in said housing and adapted to hold said rotatable member in cocked position; a spring connected to said rotatable member and adapted to impel the same into circuit closing position upon release of said trigger; a metal switch plate carried by said rotatable member, said plate being adapted to electrically connect said contact elements when said rotatable member is released in one direction; an outwardly curved cam connected totsaid rotatable member; said cam, on retracting movement of said rotatable element, being adapted to engage and flex outward-ly one of said contact elements and thereby prevent said switch plate from closing the circuit of said contact elements during such return movement. f

4. In a manual control switch, a receptacle, a pair of terminal members mounted thereon, exible contact elements connected to said terminal members and extending into said receptacle, a non-conductive rotatable member within said receptacle, spring means for impelling said rotatable member in circuit closing direction, afmetal switch plate connected to the periphery of said rotatable member adapted to conductively connect said contact elements during movement of the rotatable member in said circuit closing direction,an outwardly curved cam member on said rotatable member, said cam member being positioned to move one of said contact members away from said switch plate when the rotatable member is returned t0 starting position to thereby prevent electrical connection between said contact elements.

5. An electrical switch mechanism including a pair of circuit contact members, a rotatable member carrying a conductor arranged to move in one direction from a pre-set position to electrically connect said contact members, means limiting the travel of said rotatable member in one direction to stop it after said conductor has passed one of said -contact members, and a cam on said rotatable member engageable with the other of said contact members to lift it away from said conductor when said rotatable member is moved in reverse direction, the cam becoming disengaged from said other contact member as said reciprocable member reaches its pre-set position.

. GEORGE ALBERT LEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

g UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

